Proven Techniques to Minimize Abandoned Online Shopping Carts

In the busy digital life of today’s on-the-go consumer, comparison shopping rules. With a never-ending abundance of information, it’s common for someone to pick a product or service, place it in a shopping cart, but not make a purchase. He could be saving the item for later, checking shipping costs — or maybe he just wants to know what it feels like to almost buy it.

Abandoned carts are not lost sales. Rather, they represent great leads and prospects, since many consumers plan to return at some later point in time.

Preventing Cart Abandonment
Reminder emails are great ways to remind a customer to return to his potential purchases — and, they can generate huge returns. But, some cart abandonment can be avoided altogether by building a friendly e-commerce site that uses best practices during checkout, including:

1. Defaulting to the Same Shipping and Billing Addresses: This is bigger than you might think. People loathe repeating information and will often abandon purchases for that reason alone.
2. Being Reassuring When Requesting Sensitive Information: Let customers know all along the way that you won’t use their info for any other purpose — and stick to that promise!
3. Being Clear Regarding Next Steps: Rather than just saying “Continue,” say “Continue to make your shipping selection,” or “You will be able to review your items before completing your order.”
4. Creating Clear Options for Progression: Make the call-to-action button (as well as other buttons offering options) large, obvious, and sensibly placed.
5. Avoiding Forced Sign-Ins: Allow customers to checkout as guests if they prefer. Or, make sign-ins easier with a social media sign-on integration such as with Facebook.
6. Using Drop-Down Menus That Remain Visible: Use drop-down menus that remain visible when users hover over the shopping-cart icon.
7. Showing Clear Shipping Options Early in the Process: Don’t insist on customers inputting payment information before displaying options and pricing.
8. Using Cross-Selling Carefully: Never put items in a customer’s shopping cart without permission.
9. Limiting Requested Information: Ask only for information you actually need. Don’t ask for a birthdate unless you send birthday emails or must verify age for purchase. If someone is downloading a report or whitepaper, don’t require a home address or phone number, as this may be considered too invasive.

These techniques will help minimize cart abandonment, but it will still happen — and when it does, a reminder email is a great next step.

Cart-Abandonment Reminders
Reminder emails are perhaps the most powerful, best-performing emails in your toolkit. They have 40–55 percent open rates and are responsible for 20–25 percent conversion rates. They capture revenue that would otherwise be lost, because 72 percent of people who abandon a cart will finish that process somewhere within 24 hours.

Some retailers have developed such strong reminder programs that they can rely on their abandoned-cart conversions for a specific amount of their overall revenues.

There are many techniques for creating reminder emails. Obviously, you are reminding customers of actions they were considering — not necessarily just retail purchases or downloads; these could also refer to reports or other informational freebies. Here are a few other less obvious ideas.

1. Have a Direct — But Not Hard — Sell Subject Line and Intro. Include a soft reminder — not a hard sell. A subject line that reads, “Did you find what you were looking for?” and beginning the email body with something like, “Hey, did you forget? Was everything okay?” is a gentle reminder for customers.
2. Your Subject Line Should Reflect Your Brand’s Personality. Some brands use fun or quirky subject lines that are engaging to the customers who expect that from them. Provide a consistent tone with your emails — across all channels.
3. Offer Discounts for Returning to Their Carts. Once customers open email reminders, you could offer 10-percent discounts to encourage them to finish the process. Three of the four reasons people abandon retail carts involve pricing.
4. Send a Reminder Email Within Three Hours of the Cart Being Abandoned. Timely reminders will keep the items top of mind for your customers.
5. Promote Product Scarcity and Offer Expiration. Give customers a fixed period of time during which you will hold their items and let them know their carts will “expire” in two or three days. Consumers realize items may sell out — even from large stores.
6. Optionally, Reminder Series Can Be Created. After the initial reminder, you can notify customers again when their carts are about to expire, if you choose that approach.
7. As With all Aspects of Email Marketing, Test Relentlessly. A single word can make all the difference in response.

It’s possible to create a sound, productive, and profitable cart-reminder strategy, and these best practices will help. You want your customers to purchase or download what you are offering, of course; but, most importantly, you want them to feel like saying, “Thanks for the reminder” — and not, “Leave me alone!”

The post Proven Techniques to Minimize Abandoned Online Shopping Carts appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.

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